On 8 Mar 01, at 12:02, Andreas wrote:

I don't see the assambly and installation as something I could not be bothered to do...it gets boring after a while, that is true but I'd be in for that. However, how would you deal with warranties on hardware?

Heh, it's just that I've built too many computers and repaired too many - I *was* a programmer before my job changed. Software, programming and OS work are more to my taste. Hardware warranties - hmmm, repairing equipment for free because it didn't survive burn-in - what *joy*! That's why I told someone who suggested I make my own range of computers that I wasn't interested.

Further I agree to a rather small range of hardware combinations as you want attractive specs but also compatibility. Essentially this means you have three or four sets of hardware and install each once and create an image. This minimises the time for installations.

That was what I thought myself. Configure the OS for the systems and mass produce it. Doing all the builds from the ground up would be both time consuming and open to error should a step be forgotten. Preplanning the software would be important - like the comment made at the meeting regarding firewalls and sewing them up too tight to allow the user to install ICQ - preinstall ICQ, factor it into the firewalling and it's there if the user wants it. If they don't, they don't have to use it. Yah, OK, so there's stuff on there they won't need, taking up space - like that's going to be a problem considering 20Gb is about the smallest HDD you can get these days :) Regards Jon Tocker ***There is no spoon*** ------------ WLUG - The Waikato Linux Users Group To unsubscribe, send an email to majordomo(a)list.waikato.ac.nz with "unsubscribe wlug" in the body of the message.